Amaterasu-ōmikami
Amaterasu-ōmikami, The Sword and the Spirits, by Robert Denton III also known as Lady Sun, Smokeless Fire, by Katrina Ostrander was a Goddess of the Rokugani pantheon. The Sea of the Sun Goddess was named after her. Her Father's Daughter, by D. G. Laderoute Jade, the sacred stone, was said to be her tears. Legend of the Five Rings: Roleplaying Game (Beta), p. 122 While the Sun represented the Order, her counterpart the Moon represented the Chaos. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 7 Creation Amaterasu existed after the Nothing, who through fear, desire, and regret, was fragmented into ten thousand shards of reality, which coalesced into the jealous gods and the warring elements. Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock In the beginning the world was formless and fluid. Eventually, the lighter parts separated out and became the Heavens, and the heavier parts sank down and became the earth. Then the Three Nameless Gods appeared, and they saw that while Heaven and earth had been formed, everything within them was still wild and unshaped. They created two gods, and sent them out to give shape to the world. Emerald Empire: The Essential Guide to Rokugan, p. 8 Moon and Sun The two gods kissed the earth, and named it. Now that it was named, the earth was filled with life, and new gods and beasts appeared. The two gods also gained names: the man became Onnotangu, the Moon, and the woman became Amaterasu, the Sun. Attending them in the Heavens was the shinzoku, or tribe of the gods, while the mazoku demons of the underworld toiled beneath the earth to oversee the souls of the dead. The earth was populated at that time by the Five Ancient Races. Family Since the beginning of time, Lord Moon chased Lady Sun about the world. One day, he caught her, and as her light faded, the curtain fell on the age of the ancient races. Over the course of countless seasons, Lady Sun gave birth Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 4 to ten children: Hida, Doji, Togashi, Akodo, Shiba, Bayushi, Shinjo, Fu Leng, Hantei, and Ryoshun, the Kami. Legend of the Five Rings - Roleplaying, p. 9 Betrayal of the Moon Legends said that Onnotangu noticed how strong and talented her children grew, and he began to fear that one of them would usurp his power. Others told that the Moon, jealous over Lady Sun's love for their children, swallowed their Kami children. This day was the night with no light, when Amaterasu wept for her children, Whispers of Shadow and Steel, by Mari Murdock Her tears fell to earth as crystal and jade, and forming large pools. Being unwilling to tear apart the heavens by warring with her husband directly, she offered him a cup of sake with a single drop of poison in it, each time Onnotangu swallowed one of the children. By the time he came to the youngest child, Hantei, Amaterasu was able to swap a stone wrapped in Hantei's clothing for the real child and her husband swallowed it instead. Then he fell asleep. Fall of the Kami Amaterasu trained Hantei in the martial arts. When Hantei and Lord Moon finally did battle, he sliced open his father's belly, and the rest of his siblings tumbled out. They fell from the sky to Seppun Hill, save for one. Lord Moon reached out at the last moment and grasped Fu Leng. Hantei swung his sword one last time and severed his father's very arm. Fu Leng tried to grab ahold of Hantei, and they both fell. Plummeting downward, Fu Leng plunged through the earth to Jigoku itself, where he was lost. The blood from Lord Moon's wound fell to the ground, where it solidified into obsidian. The Creation of Mankind As Onnotangu's blood fell from Heaven, it landed in the pools of Amaterasu's tears. From each pool, two humans stood up, for humanity was made from the tears of Lady Sun and the blood of Lord Moon. Rokugan No longer immortal, the Kami shared the mortal realm with human beings. They resolved to teach and guide these humans, and they held a great tournament to see who would lead those who lived in this land they dubbed Rokugan. Hantei was the victor, and after his coronation as Emperor, he charged each of his siblings with a different task. Category:Magic and Religion (TCG)